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film study: controversial movies

have you ever watched a movie and wondered just how the director got away with something? Sometimes a scene in a film [sometimes the whole film] can be considered almost too inappropriate and end up leading it to being banned or branded as ‘controversial’ ! Movies like The Evil Dead, Hostel, and others were all banned when they first were released due to their violent content that disturbed people everywhere.

Sometimes, a film will spark controversy based on the background of the film; like Cannibal Holocaust in the above picture. The director was actually brought to court due to people believing [after the film was released] that they actually impaled the woman. He had to explain that it was achieved by having her sit on one end and hold the second post in her mouth for the shot. Scary enough, he ultimately was found guilty of boiling live turtles on the set of the film. [for the same of the film] I’m saying they weren’t props but actual living animals! Have I ever mentioned how much I dislike people, sometimes?

In this next segment, I’m going to mention a few other controversial films that come to mind, they’ve all been branded as such for reasons I’ll try and mention, so please note – possibility of spoilers coming up! :

well, this is awkward..

Another classic controversial film that many people are familiar with is: The Human Centipede. The concept is quite simple — two American girls get lost in Europe and a crazy Doctor ‘helps’ them..by sewing them mouth to butt to an Asian guy [who I’m pretty got lost himself.. Why does this kind of thing always happens in Europe?!] the sheer fact that it’s more psychological than blood and gore made this one disgustingly well done: the sequel to the film showed everything you would have expected from the first: with gore, violence and baby squishing [I wish I were kidding about that last bit]

that can’t be comfortable..

If you had to guess what happened here, what would you assume? there was acid in the bathtub? this man slipped and hit his head? What if I told you that this scene from “I Spit On Your Grave“ involved a woman cutting a guy’s penis off and leaving him to bleed out? cause that’s exactly what happened. [though, I don’t think that was this particular scene] The film was banned for obvious reasons with a the plot goes that a lonely writer was alone at her cabin and was raped and left for dead by three to guys. Her revenge tactics were a just a bit heavy for some.

special thanks to Fangoria for the picture!

For the final film on this list we have one I refuse to watch: “A Serbian Film“. It’s about a retired male porn star who gets one final job — which involves a lot of snuff and other disturbing content. I have no intends to watch it as it just seems to be the type of film that was made to be controversial, for the sake of being controversial. That, and the content is a little much for my tastes.

As noted above; sometimes, films are so violent or so extreme that they get themselves in trouble.. I’m looking at you CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST. The only one on this list that I’ll recommend is “I Spit On Your Grave”. It’s violent as fuck but compared to the others, it’s definitely the better film of the group. Do you have a favorite of the 4? Do you plan on watching any of them? Just be warned of the content and I hope I helped you understand that films are actually able to be banned, if only for their contents.

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6 comments

I love gore for the sake of gore, especially at the end of a long day when you don’t want to watch something that doesn’t really “engage” with your brains! Going to check out the few movies you’ve mentioned and that haven’t seen yet. Apart from Cannibal Holocaust. People killing turtles ain’t gettin’ any money from me!

Tidlidim — I FULLY agree! Cannibal Holocaust was one of the few films where I just felt gross with myself afterwards. Knowing that the director had people boil live animals sickens me. That’s not film, that’s downright wrong.

Bonus: the director of Cannibal Holocaust made a [VERY SMALL] cameo in Hostel II AS a cannibal 😉